General Care Discussion :: The really sleepy turtle?

[DocShay]

Hey guys,

Over the past week i've noticed one of my turtles has been sleeping an awfully lot more than usual - As I rarely see them sleep. Whenever I seem to go by the tank, he's sleeping at the bottom with eyes closed. It's strange - I even see him close his eyes while swimming briefly as well, but most of the time I just see him sleeping

I have 2 RES, both male - about 3 years old.
75 gallon tank
Full basking area (which they both do use)
Water temp is high 70's
Basking temp is high 80's
Using MVP bulb to provide heat, uva/uvb
Mainly eating leafy lettuce, pellets. They will had the odd fruit/bloodworm/superwormr/etc now and then as treats.

Also note, they are both eating and still beg like crazy (well, after the one turtle wakes up from the other frantically following me that is! lol)

any idea what might be causing this, if its unhealthy, or maybe its just time of year? I know my bearded dragon gets rather lethargic in the winter.

[LittleResQNorth]

As long as the turtle is eating I wouldn't worry about it. I have a lazy RES too, Iris will eat her food then sit on the bottom and sleep it off and when I let her out to walk around she goes to the same spot in the closet climbs under a blanket I had there (which I now can't move because she likes it so much) and will stay there for hours. She eats and she is alert still so I don't worry about it, I know some lazy people too. lol

[Outlander]

Are you sure they're just closed and not swollen? Sometimes turtles can get eye infections that cause them to swell, which makes them look shut.

[lunabebe4]

Seems better than my turtle lol. My turtle is rarely ever seen sleeping. If I get up in the middle of the night for some reason I have caught her sleeping like once or twice. I just always assume she sleeps in the middle of the day while she basks when im not here.

[V Lou]

I am here for the same reason. One of my turtles sleeps a lot, is relatively active once awake, but keeps either one or both eyes closed, bumps into things and misses when she bites for food (lack of depth perception with one eye closed). One eye lid was a bit puffy, as if she scratched it, but it is not swollen now (it's been a few days).

My tank is still cycling. The nitrites were way high and I kept changing out part of the water.

I thought it could be the de-chlorinator I was using, so I bought a turtle-specific de-chlorinator. This morning, the nitrites are nil (YEA!!), and I hope her condition improves, but she still swims around with 1 or 2 eyes closed.

Do you think it could be the de-chlorinator (the first one which was not turtle-specific), a possible scratched eye, the previously high nitrite level, or that she figured out how to swim with her eyes shut and she thinks that's pretty cool?

[V Lou]

The sleepiness and closed eyes issue is over, thank goodness, for my turtle. Yea!

[ameedroid]

The sleepiness and closed eyes issue is over, thank goodness, for my turtle. Yea!

Hi there im so glad to hear. What did you do dofferent for your turtle to get better? Could it have been a vitamin A deficiency puffy eyes and missing food?